Hello Everyone!
And thank you, Michele, for your feedback, which is pasted below. I have
been meaning to comment on your feedback for a long time, but it got away
from me, with so much happening around here! But I am sure you know how
that feels - you have so much to do yourself, I don't know how you
accomplish it all :-)

Your feedback meant far more than you can imagine, because our SignWriting
Literacy Project is new, and I need the feedback to improve our materials.
This is what I learned from your comments...

1. your children generally learned to read whole signs as units, rather
than individual symbols within a sign
2. the flashcards worked and we should include them officially with the
materials for new schools
3. more flashcards should be added to the set we already have (any
suggestions?)
4. it seems it is easier for children to learn to read, than to write -
writing takes more practice
5. we need to develop lesson plans for the teachers
6. we need to add more videos to the Lessons in SignWriting Video Series
7. need more instruction on writing facial expressions
8. you felt generally our materials are good and the Children's stories
video was a hit
9. you want Cinderella next, rather than the more advanced Goldilocks (this
makes sense with young children)

Please feel free to correct any misimpressions I might have. I am pleased
to see that you are focusing on facial expressions, and I know our textbook
has always needed more focus on that as well, so that is a chapter I hope
to expand in the future.

Also, may I ask a favor? Can you write out what you think the Lessons Plan
should be, based on your experience, and then send your ideas to me? I
would be most grateful for that. Then I can create a Lesson Plan based on
the various teacher's experiences.

Thanks for your help, Michele, and I hope your family had a nice
Thanksgiving :=)

Valerie

_______________________________

>Date: Sun, 01 Nov 1998, Michele Lewis wrote:
>The only problem I am having is teaching them the individual parts of the
>signs. They were not making much progress learning Sign Writing until I
>figured
>out that they do much better learning the sign as a whole. (The
>flashcards are what
>helped me come to this conclusion! They could remember the signs with no
>problem after
>working with the flashcards.) I think that they are too young to
>understand the
>mechanics of how Sign Writing is put together. I plan on focusing more on
>them
>memorizing the individual signs first, and as they get older, I will start
>breaking the signs down into their parts.

>The the one thing that I would suggest is written lesson plans. I think I
>would
>be doing a better job if I had a teaching outline to go by; what should be
>covered, how much time per session, what sequence etc. Since I am learning
>SignWriting as well, I would benefit from an experienced Sign Writing
>teacher's
>guidelines and suggestions.

>The flashcards made all the difference in the world. They have an easier
>time remembering the signs as a whole. They were having a hard time
>remembering
>the individual parts of each Sign Writing word. I would highly suggest MORE
>FLASHCARDS!

>I enjoyed the videos. They were very clear. It made it easier to go back
>to the book and understand what >was presented. It would be nice for the
>series to be expanded to cover all of the lesson in the SignWriting
>>Manual.

>I am in the process of learning how to fine tune the signs, adding the
>appropriate facial expressions. Now that I have the basics down, I would
>say I refer to the facial expressions part the most. I really can't think
>of any improvements. The book is very thorough and it is
>easy to understand. Yes, it is VERY useful.